On the first night of Sukkot, Daniel is apprehensive about sleeping in the dark sukkah without a night light.
Older sister Naomi likes to show off her knowledge acquired in Hebrew school, so she tells Daniel all about the holiday. She explains how Jews remember their ancestors' journey from Egypt, why the sukkah is built, and the reason for an open roof made of tree branches.
Once the building and decorating of their sukkah is finished, Daniel's quiet anxiety parallels Naomi's eager excitement through the family's outdoor dinner. At bedtime, the siblings create a makeshift sleeping area in a corner of the sukkah. In the dark, scary nighttime noises and shadowy images disturb Daniel to the point where he begins to go inside. But to his surprise, Naomi, who has a touch of the heebie-jeebies herself, encourages him to stay and look up through the branches of the sukkah's open roof. He sees a sky full of stars, or night lights, as they glowed for the ancestors thousands of years ago.
Soft paintings provide a contemporary view of a White Jewish family with some parallel historical scenes of the forbearers making their way through the desert.
The interwoven explanation of the holiday within the context of the story is enhanced with an afterword that references today's refugees, who must live under precarious circumstances in temporary shelters.
A child's fear is sweetly tempered by the support of an older sister's comforting, natural solution. (Picture book. 5-7)
—Kirkus Reviews
Daniel, his older sister Naomi, and their parents prepare for Sukkot by building a sukkah in their backyard.
As they decorate, Daniel learns about the holiday. Naomi explains that in the sukkah “We’re supposed to see the sky through the roof.” Just like their ancestors, who slept in huts after escaping Egypt, Daniel and Naomi will spend the night in their sukkah. They are usually joined by Grandpa but this year he is sick with a cold so the kids are on their own. Daniel is hesitant, recalling the “scary noises” he heard last year. It doesn’t help that Naomi teases him about being afraid of the dark. She tells Daniel that he won’t be able to bring his night light into the sukkah because there won’t be a way to plug it in. “Do you think our ancestors had night lights…?” she asks. Following a festive dinner, it’s time for bed but Daniel can’t fall asleep. The sukkah feels dark and cold; it’s a far cry from the cheerful place it was earlier that evening. Daniel is fearful of the howling wind and the loud animal sounds he hears. He is also frightened when scary faces appear to be forming on the decorative squashes. Teddy bear in tow, Daniel decides it is “Too hard being an ancestor” and wants to go back inside the house. However, Naomi asks him to stay admitting that she too is feeling a bit spooked. Together, the siblings look up to the sky. As the sparking stars peek through the roof of the sukkah, Naomi realizes that maybe the ancestors did have night lights after all. Daniel recognizes that, like him, maybe “Our ancestors were brave, and a little scared, too.” Finally, the kids fall asleep.
The illustrations cleverly depict the current happenings in the story, including subtext like the sukkah’s traditional decorations of hanging fruits and paper chains. Some pages feature illustrations of the ancestors on their journey; those are in more muted tones. Also shown are elements of Daniel’s imagination including the faces he “sees” on the squashes and the menacing shapes in the shadows.
The book also includes a brief but thoughtful afterword imploring young readers to think about safety and shelter and how it relates to the holiday. The author offers insights into the significance of Sukkot providing a lens which mirrors some modern day childhood experiences. Young readers will enjoy the charming characters and relatable family dynamics, especially between the siblings. Night Lights: A Sukkot Story is a timeless choice.
— Jillian Bietz, The Jewish Book Council
2020-06-30
On the first night of Sukkot, Daniel is apprehensive about sleeping in the dark sukkah without a night light.
Older sister Naomi likes to show off her knowledge acquired in Hebrew school, so she tells Daniel all about the holiday. She explains how Jews remember the ancestors’ journey from Egypt, why the sukkah is built, and the reason for an open roof made of tree branches. Once the building and decorating of their sukkah is finished, Daniel’s quiet anxiety parallels Naomi’s eager excitement through the family’s outdoor dinner. At bedtime, the siblings create a makeshift sleeping area in a corner of the sukkah. In the dark, scary nighttime noises and shadowy images disturb Daniel to the point where he begins to go inside. But to his surprise, Naomi, who has a touch of the heebie-jeebies herself, encourages him to stay and look up through the branches of the sukkah’s open roof. He sees a sky full of stars, or “night lights,” as they glowed for the ancestors thousands of years ago. Soft paintings provide a contemporary view of a White Jewish family with some parallel historical scenes of the forbearers making their way through the desert. The interwoven explanation of the holiday within the context of the story is enhanced with an afterword that references today’s refugees, who must live under precarious circumstances in temporary shelters.
A child’s fear is sweetly tempered by the support of an older sister’s comforting, natural solution. (Picture book. 5-7)
Barbara Diamond Goldin's 1995 picture book Night Lights: A Sukkot Story is being reissued, with new illustrations by Laura Sucher. Goldin smoothly blends her contemporary story, about a boy's fears of sleeping under the open roof of his family sukkah, with an explanation of the festival of Sukkot (which this year begins on September 20). An endnote elaborates on the meaning of Sukkot, which commemorates the wandering of the Jews in the desert after the Exodus from Egypt. Where Louise August's pictures for the original edition were just the right side of scary, Sucher's limpid, sketchy watercolors are persistently friendly: as biblical Israelites wander in the desert, a moon on the horizon smiles. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
